The following is an excerpt from a blog I wrote just before the release of this album: "My new album is a discussion of what it means to leave, and the many aspects of leaving. Many times the word, “leaving” is used in a negative light… “Do we have to leave,” was always the phrase of choice when visiting my grandmother on Balboa Island every summer as a kid. “Can we leave now…” was used when I was bored waiting for my sister to finish her appointment at the orthodontist.
But leaving can be a very positive thing. To leave one place or situation is to start something new. Of course, there’s a flip side, as no kid would want to leave a a place as wonderful as Balboa Island to go back to a horrible place… say, the first day of school.
No artist claims to ever want to “explain” their art. But I’ve realized that there are aspects of my songs that I hadn’t explored until after I wrote them. What started as an album of random songs I’d written in the past 18 months became a concept album about leaving. Every song on the album has a reference to leaving, I discovered… from leaving the life of a bachelor and entering into marriage (”Don’t Cross the Road”), to leaving a place of physical and mental anxiety (”Provo”), to leaving what you think to be true (”Strike a Match”), to leaving everything and anything (”Run Away”).
Additionally, I want to discuss the song, “Provo.” The song started out as a silly song I was writing in my head as I left work one day in 2004. I didn’t like the drive, and I hated the location. I was simply frustrated, and wondering if this was simply a lesson that God was teaching me to continue to teach me who I am and who He wants me to be. No one likes lessons like that, they’re hard.
After writing the song and playing it live a few times, experiences in my life led me to discover a double meaning in this clever song. It occurred to me that everyone is trying to get out of Provo (an allegory, if you will, for a situation that they simply don’t get).
Okay, fine, I’ll say it. We all have our own personal “Provo.” We all want out. We all struggle to find ourselves outside of the grip that “Provo” has on us. We don’t want Provo to define us, yet it still does, and the more it does, the further we lose the concept of who we really are, and who God wants us to become. This is a very important song on the album because it challenges us to be aware of our struggles and know that God is a necessity to defeat them.This is my favorite song I’ve ever written, the most enjoyable to play and the one that I hope people will look back on years from now still be touched by it."
Thoughts on Forever, Out of Here: November 2007 |
